- If you order from multiple signings at once, your books will be shipped when the last signing ends. If you want your books to ship as they are released, please order them separately and pay appropriate shipping.

- Please double check to be sure you are ordering the correct book. Once the signing has ended and an order has been placed with the bookstore, we cannot change your order.

- We cannot be expected to notice if you accidentally order twice. If you think you have ordered but aren't sure, feel free to email us and we will check for you. Refunds will NOT be issued if you notice after the refund deadline has passed.

- Books will be signed around the author's schedule, therefore, we cannot *always* ship your order the day the book releases. This is a fluid process that will vary from signing to signing.

June 26, 2013

Proxy by Alex London Blog Tour & Giveaway!

The adventure novel of the year! Inspired by The Whipping Boy and Feed, this adrenaline-fueled thriller will appeal to fans of The Hunger Games for its razor-sharp insights into the nature of human survival and its clever writing.

Knox was born into one of the City's wealthiest families. A Patron, he has everything a boy could possibly want—the latest tech, the coolest clothes, and a Proxy to take all his punishments. When Knox breaks a vase, Syd is beaten. When Knox plays a practical joke, Syd is forced to haul rocks. And when Knox crashes a car, killing one of his friends, Syd is branded and sentenced to death.

Syd is a Proxy. His life is not his own.

Then again, neither is Knox’s. Knox and Syd have more in common than either would guess. So when Knox and Syd realize that the only way to beat the system is to save each other, they flee. Yet Knox’s father is no ordinary Patron, and Syd is no ordinary Proxy. The ensuing cross-country chase will uncover a secret society of rebels, test both boys’ resolve, and shine a blinding light onto a world of those who owe and those who pay. Some debts, it turns out, cannot be repaid.

A fast-paced, thrill-ride of novel full of non-stop action, heart-hammering suspense and true friendship—just as moving as it is exhilarating. Fans of Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider series, James Dashner's Maze Runner, Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking series, and Marie Lu's Legend will be swept away by this story.

Sneak Peek inside PROXY

“Mr. Kumar never had any idea his image had been hacked. He just talked away from his wood-paneled office at EduCorp. He couldn’t figure out why the kids always laughed so hard at his lectures. Not that he could do anything about it. They were all paying customers and could laugh all they wanted. That was a perk of going to a top-tier patron school. The customer was always right.” – page 3, PROXY

On Upper City: Knox lives in the Upper City, high above the slums of the Valve, where the air is clear, the roads are restricted, and the walls are thick, so none of the elites have to interact with the poor of their society. It’s luxurious and designed to cater to every need a person could think to pay for. The rich of the Upper City would just as soon not know the millions of poor exist, which is one of the underlying reasons for the Proxy system. In theory, it is meant to remind the privileged that their actions affect those they may never even know. By watching someone else suffer for their mistakes, they are meant to learn responsibility, but of course, all the proxy system really serves to do is to dull their empathy and remove any sense of personal responsibility. It’s kind of like the bank bailouts in our economic crisis. The lesson bankers learned was that no matter how they screw up, someone else will foot the bill. This is that mentality drilled down to an individual level.

Surrounded by luxury and freed from personal responsibility, Knox, who is a good-looking and confidant 16-year-old, is doomed to play the part of spoiled brat. It is the model society has created for him. He’s taken the inevitable lessons of the world around him to heart, learned that he is the center of the universe, that his pleasure is the organizing principle of society, and that other people only matter in so much as they are useful to him. The only way Knox has a chance at becoming a person of substance, a person capable of empathy and responsibility is to break away from the world he lives in, to free himself from the moral hazard of luxury and absolute freedom his parents’ generation has created.

So, while the Upper City seems like a dream to live in—and far better than the violent slum where his Proxy, Syd grows up—it a place with its own dangers and can drain his soul away if he lets it. Much of his conflict in the books comes from this, trying to reconcile who the world he’s from wants him to be and who that still small voice inside calls out to him to become. Knox can be a slave to his lavish circumstances or he can tear apart his comfort and save his humanity. Not an easy choice for a 16 year old who’s never had to choose anything hard before. Then again, Proxy wouldn’t be much of a book if I made things easy for my protagonists!

Alex London writes book for adults, children and teens. At one time a journalist who traveled the world reporting from conflict zones and refugee camps, he now is a full time novelist living in Brooklyn.

I think it would be exhausting. You are responsible for a life. You would always have in the back of your head that voice telling you that whatever you do it's going to affect someone else and not exactly you. So the mistakes you make aren't only yours they are your proxies too, and having that kind of responsibility is just too much.

Thanks for the great review! WOW... I think the premise of this books sounds so original and creepy :) I'd feel so guilty if someone else had to take the consequences of my actions! Definitely wouldn't want one!

Interesting concept. I don't know that I would want a proxy. I think it would make the one person kind of an ass since there's never any responsibility there, no ownership. I think the proxy would be devoid of an identity, a shell of a person. That would be a harsh situation. I could be wrong though, lord knows there's been times in my life when I wished I could blame someone or something else for me being dumb. LOL

I don't think I would want a proxy. I feel like a lot of who we become stems from the mistakes we make and the consequences of those mistakes. I think that I would miss out on a lot of morals if I had a proxy. Or I would live my life very carefully so that my proxy would not suffer. Either way, it sounds like it would kinda suck! I have heard some great thing things and read some glittering reviews about Proxy! Can't wait to read it. Thanks for the chance to win!! Desiree1612@hotmail.com

Hmmm...definitely some pros and cons on the subject. On one hand , you coyld get away wirh missing work, or taking out that evil mother in law...but i think i would get attached. I have to agree with evrythngzen though....great comment!!!

This book sounds so interesting... but... when Knox does somethingwrong Syd takes the punishment? I would feel even more guilty fordoing something wrong is someone else got the punishment. And if kidswere being raised with proxy's they would have no sense oframifications of their actions. So yeah, I wouldn't want a Proxy, butit sounds like a great book that I definitely want to read!

I don't think I'd find having a Proxy enjoyable at all. I can barely look after myself and I hate to see someone else punished for something I did. Sounds like a wonderful book, but as a reality, not for me thanks. carlscott(at)prodigy(dot)net(dot)mx

If I had a proxy, I would treat them like a friend. I would try very hard to do only good things and to be careful not to do anything bad. I couldn't have a clear conscious knowing that my mess-ups caused someone else to be punished.

It would be awful. I would feel so much guilt, that someone else suffers from my mistakes. Plus, the punishments seem to be harsher, because, someone from the "good" side of the tracks isn't the one getting them. I couldn't handle knowing that.

I would not want a proxy because it would be similar to being a twin and what if our actions got mistaken for the others?? um NO! I think I will pass but I DO want to read this book because it sounds fantastic! and your review was great!! Love it!

I wouldn't want to have a proxy because I couldn't stand for them to be punished for things that I did. It just doesn't seem fair to me. But the book sounds very interesting and exciting and I'd love to read it. Thanks for having the giveaway.

I would not be able to handle having a proxy, knowing that anything I did wrong would be punishable upon them. That is way too much pressure, especially for a teenage who is bound to make mistakes. I am dying to read how this plays out in the book though! Thank you!

I think I'd feel bad if I had a proxy but then again maybe that would help keep me in check because I wouldn't want them to be hurt because of me so I'd behave better.This book sounds so interesting. Definitely looking forward to reading it.

Queen of Air & Darkness by Cassandra Clare Virtual Signing!

The Wicked King by Holly Black

Books Damaris Has Read...

Yesss!! AVENGED is just as good as the first! Of course it ends with a bang! Now what the heck do I do while I wait for book 3???? Argh! Why can't authors have magic and release books back to back? Lol! AVENGED did not disappoint! Huge 5...

Nooo!! Why did it have to end that way?!? Why?!? Can I just say that I love how Morgan Rhodes can make you despise a character so much that you turn the pages waiting for their death, only to turn it all around in the next book. Some of ...